Because of LOVE
by RoseScor90
Summary: Written for the Because of LOVE challenge! Mostly a collection of one shots about different people's perspectives on love. R&R!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Not JK…

Chapter 1: The tale of the witness

It had always been his bane to be the onlooker.

To observe but not to feel, to recognize but not to act.

He had gone down these paths of thoughts often enough. Not that that made them any easier to bear.

Lavendar Brown had breezed through his life, and had disappeared exactly that way.

Ever since that day she broke up with him, he had had to look at her, with a different person each week, always happy and smiling. As if there wasn't anything else she'd rather be doing.

He hadn't felt the dread of losing her completely, until Ron Weasley. He knew he had lost then. What was he before one third of the Golden Trio?

But he had broken up with her leaving her broken. Hope had shined through, but the cloud of a looming war had made him too anxious for anything else.

Now the war was over, but she was in no position to listen to what he wanted to say.

She had been attacked by Greyback, and her face was now a pale shadow of what it had been.

He had been shocked at her face at first but an hour later, he was already able to see behind the scars.

She had appeared so vulnerable, so…unprotected, it had banished any other thoughts from his mind.

He'd stay with her. He had resolutely cut out any of her protests.

She hadn't wanted to see anyone. She hadn't wanted the pity anyone would feel looking at her.

He hadn't pitied her. He hadn't felt sorry. He had taken it in stride and had all but forgotten that her face now criss-crossed with angry red scars.

He had felt her need for company, seen it in her eyes that she needed someone who would treat her just the same. Someone who could make her forget the reason she was in the Hospital Wing and not celebrating with her friends.

That was the reason why Dean Thomas was now grumbling something about stupid smitten friend as he walked back towards the Great Hall.

"You should have gone with Dean" she tried for the last time to convince him to go. She did not want him to stay with her miserable self while he could be enjoying the victory with everyone else.

"What for?"

"You don't have to feel obligated to stay with me. I'll be fine all by myself"

"Whoever told you I'm unhappy here?"

"I dunno why you insist on sitting here looking at the complaining patients"

"I only see _one_ complaining patient here"

It didn't bring her usual reaction. She didn't laugh like she would have. Her eyes turned brooding, a hint of fear flashing through them.

"Lav?"

"Huh?"

"You sort of spaced out?"

"Nothing. Just keep talking. Tell me the news"

"Gossip you mean?"

She smiled at last, and flinched when that brought her pain.

"You could call it that" she said, trying to hide her obvious pain.

"Kingsley Shacklebolt is the temporary Minister for magic"

"Good for him. He always stood by Dumbledore"

"I still think Ron's dad should have got it" he said cautiously, wondering how tender the subject of her ex-boyfriend was to her.

"Shacklebolt is the better choice. He was an Auror"

There didn't seem to be any visible difference in her manner and he was relieved he hadn't made her mood worse.

"They are thinking of restarting the school for those who didn't attend it this year and those who had to…leave"

"You mean those who went into hiding?"

"Sort of. You'll join?"

"Yeah…May be. I don't think people will be very welcoming…I was bitten by a werewolf afterall"

"There's nothing wrong with you! Ad today wasn't a full moon. You won't have any problem blending in"

"Thanks. We'll see. I'm not very intent on making plans. I'd like to just live for a few years. No war. No fear and all that"

"We still have a lot of time anyway"

Her laughter was more an expression of relief this time, as if she had just realized that there was no war to anticipate.

"Yeah…I always wondered what I'd do after the war. I thought I'd sort of open a shop or something. That'd suit me but now that I do have time, I'm not so enthusiastic about it"

"I'd wait until I get out of the infirmary if I were you" he encouraged.

"There I go again! Making plans before they are even necessary"

She shook her head and fell silent, staring at the ceiling of the room.

The sounds from below reached their ears making both of them smile.

"It really is over, isn't it?"

Lavender's voice was delighted and he saw a glimpse of the old lavender he knew.

"Yeah! We won!"

His voice was as excited as hers.

She settled back again, and soon her eyelids drooped to cover her eyes.

Seamus Finnigan sat beside her while she slept, knowing he was where he belonged.

_Because even though he'd thought the same things countless times before, and had bits and pieces of his heart chucked in the bin repeatedly, he just knew she was the one he was waiting for._

A/n: Review!


	2. She Came Afterall

Disclaimer: Not JK…

A/n: written for the Because of LOVE challenge! The character was Victor Krum and the quote was "B_ecause Viktor knew that she'd come to him eventually, even if he had to wait forever for her."_

Chapter 2: She came, afterall

Victor Krum sat at one of the corner tables in a non-descript restaurants in London. The purpose of his visit to the country was as yet unclear to him, he had come because he had felt like it and he didn't regret it. It had been a fruitful visit too; he had been able to re-establish several of his contacts; Fleur Weasley nee Delacour, her husband Bill Weasley and almost all the rest of the Weasleys. Victor chuckled at the look of pure stupefaction that had been Ronald Weasley's reaction to his sudden arrival. He must have feared that he'd take away Hermione from him or something. That brought another smile on his face; he'd be the first to admit that he had enjoyed dating Hermione but they had both agreed that they hadn't been for the other. She, because she had gone with him just to spite Ronald Weasley and he, because he had wanted to show _her_ that he could get a decent date even if she declined.

Victor's anger mounted even as he thought about her mingling with something soft and terrifying, remembering her pretty, almost beautiful Asian face, her dark eyes swirling with mirth and scorn as she looked at him while hanging over Diggory's arm at the ball, and the way she had melted in his arms later in the evening. They had had a complicated relationship, rocky as a ship caught in a storm yet steady as a bamboo caught in a tornado.

The first time he had met her had been when he had been walking to the goblet to put his name in. She had given him a shy smile, one he had come to expect and disregard from females, and wished him the best of luck. Something about her, may be that contradictingly daring expression in her eyes, pulled him to look back at her one more time. And he had gotten selected, hadn't he? He had thought it her work, her witchy powers that had secured him a place that would take him to eternal glory; he should have known it'd lead him to infamy, rather ironically.

Hearing the doorbell ring, Victor looked up from his musings and there she stood, in all her five foot six inches of glory, her mane of black hair tied at the nape of her neck, her face flustered and tired. Victor knew she still hadn't recovered from the tragedies that had been thrust on her time after time after time. He pitied her, surely, but something told him it wasn't pity she needed. No, Cho Chang was too damn proud for pity, or anything as weak.

"Cho." She nodded at his one word greeting, seating herself in front of him. She was still gorgeous, even through all the layers of sorrow and anguish that lay on her face. And her eyes still challenged him, daring him non-verbally. He had admired her stubborn streak, but it had gone too far, and for longer than he had the patience to bear.

"I trust you're well, Victor? Has your stay been pleasant?" That, translated into her language meant that she wanted to know about his life these past years and wanted him gone as soon as he could manage; he wasn't bothered. He would return, surely, but she'd come with him this time. The ship wasn't setting sail without her on board.

"I was never one for formalities, Cho, and neither are you. Why don't we just cut to the chase?" She seemed startled, and one would assume she had no idea what he was talking about. But her eyes were sharp as blades, slashing with that familiar fury that he knew preceded her real emotions and hid them rather well.

"What do you want? My answer hasn't changed." She replied curtly, answering her own questions. Victor smirked, she was getting flustered.

"I think you've fooled the both of us enough, Cho. There's no need to dance around anymore. You're over Cedric, I know that; and you now know I'm not dabbling in the Dark Arts. Oh yes, I know you have been enquiring, I have sources too, you see?" He replied at her shocked expression.

"Did your sources tell you that I was fooling you too?" She asked snarkily, meaning to offend, but merely causing amusement.

"No, your eyes did that all by themselves. You keep forgetting that I can read them." She hurriedly looked away, but not before he spotted the crack in her shield; she was caving.

"It's going to cause a ruckus. The world's best Seeker going out with the dead co-competitor's ex," She muttered in a low voice. He knew she was just stalling, she never knew how to give in gracefully. It was either fight till the end or die trying with her.

"And I seem terribly bothered by that don't I? If you'd thought that, you could have declined my invitation, Cho. It was an open offer and you came. Doesn't that tell you something?"

"That I'm going against my better judgment, definitely yes. But there's nothing I can do to help it, is there?" She let out a little sarcastic laugh, the situation entertaining her greatly. Victor gave a single nod before he took her hand in his. He might be rude with her when she was adamant and refused to see the truth, but he was reared with manners and he could never forget them.

"Cho, I ask you this one last time. If the answer is in the negative this time, I have no choice but to let go, painful as it will be for me. Will you go out with me?" An eternity seemed to pass before she nodded slightly, insignificantly.

"Yes" That one word moved something in him; making all the pieces of his heart fit together rightly.

A/n: Mt first time writing Krum in any manner! Please do review!


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